The longsword stood planted in the earth. His hands crossed atop the pommel, his stare sweeping the whole battlefield like a hawk over fields.

His ponytail streamed with the wind, and a foxtail grass hung from his mouth, lending him the air of a wandering rogue.

“General Wang… is it really fine for you not to fight?”

An elder in wizard-like robes asked Wang Xiaoming; his face hid in the folds, his tone steady as stone, unmoved by the general’s aura.

Wang Xiaoming kept the foxtail between his teeth; no solemn light in his eyes, as if this war were child’s play.

“Just now… I traded blows with that Daemon. I only cut down one.”

“The rest swooped and found no one willing to engage; they dropped from the sky and smashed buildings in a heartbeat.”

“I didn’t say it right away, fearing panic. So I slipped off alone and butchered them—pity the homes the common folk built with their own hands.”

“But, General Wang, what does that have to do with you staying off the field?”

“Heh… If I keep stepping in, a retreat opens inside their hearts. A warrior must never hold that thought.”

“It’s why I love His Majesty’s line—We have no road left to retreat.”

“But, General Wang, so many Daemons—our soldiers could take heavy losses!”

Wang Xiaoming took the foxtail from his mouth and gave the elder a strange look, as if peering at an odd creature.

“A warrior goes in ready to die. Show me a war where no one dies.”

“But—”

“Cut the yapping. You don’t know war.”

“Without true battle, training is just sweat and nothing else.”

“Without a smear of blood, without their blades tasting iron, they won’t become real warriors. Besides, this fight is more than a fight.”

It’s a duel of minds, meant to smoke out the mastermind.

Seeing Wang Xiaoming had no wish to go on, the elder held his tongue; as he’d said, he didn’t know war.

Better to shut up and be ready to cast Healing Rain or launch a spell; that’s a battle cleric’s job.

“All troops, hear my command!”

His shout carried its own brass megaphone; every soldier snapped to, waiting on Wang Xiaoming’s word.

“Machine gunners, sweep the right at full power!”

He cut the air with a broad, conductor’s swing; gunners turned into musicians, bullets into notes, and the show called War began.

The Empire’s reinforced guns didn’t fire ordinary rounds; at 4,000 per minute, the stream became a curtain of steel.

Daemons had lost their souls, shambling like the dead, yet muscle memory let them twitch to danger like high-level game AI.

Those near the right flank surged left at once; a few slow ones got pinned to the ground by the dense barrage, bodies drilled through, helpless.

“ROAR!!!!”

To bolster their fury, the Daemons on the left roared as one; the blast made every head but Wang Xiaoming’s feel ready to split.

Brains thumped in heartlike beats; tinnitus and vertigo stacked on the ranks like curses in an instant.

Only Wang Xiaoming shrugged off most of it; he frowned and glanced at the elder beside him, who clutched his temples.

“All troops! Hear me! Repeat! All troops, hear my command!”

A general’s worth showed there; the Daemon’s mind-sway got drowned by Wang Xiaoming’s louder voice.

There was a strange magic in it; minds cleared, and the pain washed away like tide leaving stones dry.

“Shield-bearers! Surround the Daemon cluster and push up! Don’t flinch. Shrink their movement range again!”

It sounded like sending shield-men to die, yet no one hesitated; they formed a square and penned the Daemons in the center.

“Riflemen and swordsmen! Attack from behind the shields!”

“Aim the URL-6T Ultor Rocket Launcher at the central Daemons; don’t hoard ammo—fire everything that can fire!”

“Anyone trained with Lion Incendiary Bombs, throw them, and watch for friendly fire!”

Wang Xiaoming’s orders landed; two heartbeats later, every loaded rocket leapt, a swarm of flames crossing the air.

Sometimes they kissed mid-flight and burst into flowers before reaching targets, but most chose to root and bloom on the ground.

Incendiaries followed, hurled with brutal arms; from the rim they reached the center, and fire from broken glass spilled into a sea.

The Daemons swam in that sea of flames, black shapes rolling like seals in burning surf.